FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - The first thing you need to know about Jim Thorpe is that the Olympians are fast.
They have speed to burn, and the like to use that speed in a wide-open passing attack.
The second thing you need to know, and something that might have North Schuylkill licking its chops, is that, on the defensive side, the Olympians don't appear to do a very good job stopping the run.
And that is the Spartans' bread and butter.
Senior Matt Gownley (5-foot, 11-inches, 195 pounds) is the area's leading rusher with 366 yards and four touchdowns on 38 rushes through the first two games.
Another senior, Ethan Motsney (5-9, 170) has rushed for 144 yards and two scores on just 11 carries. He'll be returning this week from a one-game suspension after being ejected late in the opening-night victory over Shenandoah Valley.
Even quarterback Matt Smarkanic (6-2, 225, junior) has been a factor in the ground game with 129 yards and one score on 13 rushes.
Consider all that ground success, then consider that, in a week 2 47-20 loss to Blue Mountain, the Jim Thorpe defense allowed the Eagles to rush for 486 yards.
Now, back to that Jim Thorpe speed. Spartans' head coach Rick Geist knows all about it.
Khaaliq Lynch, a 6-foot, 3-inch, 195-pound wide receiver is the Olympians' most dangerous speed merchant.
In a 34-29 opening-night loss to Tamaqua, he caught 11 passes for 181 yards.
"He's a track guy," Geist said. "And he has track speed. No. 16 (wide receiver Michael Harleston) is a speed guy too, and the quarterback can run."
North Schuylkill's defensive challenge will be to control that speed, and the offense designed to take advantage of it.
Quarterback Patrick Duvigneaud threw for 212 yards in that loss to Tamaqua. He has the controls of the offense.
"He's in the gun the whole time," Geist said. "Even when they run the ball, they run out of the gun.
"Their pass concerns me. We have to stop the pass."
Along those lines, Geist said through the first two games, North Schuylkill has been working a good number of younger players into the scheme, particularly in the secondary where he said he feels he has eight kids who can all contribute.
"Going into the season, we had four defensive backs returning," Geist said. "Now, we have eight defensive backs we've been using, and three of them are freshmen.
"We've also worked about six or seven kids into our defensive line rotation."
That last fact can be especially beneficial against a fast-paced offense like the Jim Thorpe attack.
"It's a good thing that we've been playing a lot of different kids," Geist said. "We're developing a lot more depth that I thought we might have.
"You know, we can get a lot better. We haven't really played well yet."